MATCHA FINANCIERS

Talented pastry chef Jackie Lee created this recipe with Lalani & Co Organic Matcha. Time to get baking…

Lalani & Co: Matcha Financiers by Jackie Lee

Makes about 30 – 32

INGREDIENTS

150g ground almond powder (if you can’t get hold of almond powder you can make your own by whizzing 100g blanched almonds with 1 tbsp caster sugar in a food processor, then passing through a fine sieve. You may need to do this a couple of times but be careful not to over-process or the almond powder will be greasy)

150g icing sugar

50g plain flour

2 tbsps Lalani & Co Matcha III

150g egg whites (if you can get it, Two Chicks is great for this, but if using whole eggs break the egg whites up with a fork a bit after separating – it’ll just help you incorporate everything together smoothly)

150g unsalted butter

1 comice pear

16 small blackberries

 

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Oval/financier silicone mould
Piping bag

 

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Melt the butter and bring to noisette over medium heat. Quickly strain into a clean bowl (to get rid of the sediment) and set aside to cool.

2. Sift all the dry ingredients together, then make a well in the centre, add the egg white and whisk together gently (so as not to aerate) until combined.

3. When the beurre noisette is cool, whisk in gently to the rest of the financier mix and transfer to a piping bag.

Note: You can put this mix into the fridge at this point and allow it to set up a bit before baking. It doesn’t affect the rise and I find it easier to get uniform financiers if it sets up a little – you can keep a batch in the fridge for up to a week. If baking straight away, don’t bother putting it into a piping bag as it’ll be too runny to pipe, so just use a couple of teaspoons.

4. Prepare the silicone moulds by spraying lightly with non-stick spray and placing on a baking sheet, and prepare the fruit by peeling, coring and slicing the pear into small chunks (for my oval moulds I find the best ratio are pieces which are about 3.5cm long x 1cm wide ; my moulds are about 5cm long x 3cm wide x 2cm deep), then halve the blackberries down the centre.

5. Pipe the financiers into the moulds, filling each 2/3 full, then top with a chunk of pear and half a blackberry, pushing them down into the mix a little. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 – 18 mins, or until well risen and when touched lightly springs back. Make sure to look in the centre around the fruit for wet financier mix, as that’s where it’ll take longest to bake. I find it helps to turn the tray around after 15 mins for the remaining few minutes if it’s not quite there yet – this’ll help keep the mix uniformly green but go by your oven, as every oven is different and you’ll have hotter and cooler spots.

Note: My oven is fan assisted which means that it runs around 20 – 30 degrees hotter, if your oven is not fan assisted it may need a little longer. Make sure not to open the oven door for at least the first 10 mins as it’ll affect the rise.

6. Remove to a wire rack to cool and serve with a cup of tea!

 

Jackie Lee tweets as @Jaxies and blogs at iamafeeder.net.

You can read her full thoughts and notes on this recipe here.